


One More Time Is Not Alright

by torigates



Category: How I Met Your Mother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:44:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She met Bob at the gym. He was nice and fun and cute and really interested in her. Robin was so sick and tired of feeling sad and jealous about Ted, so she thought <i>‘Why the hell not.’</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	One More Time Is Not Alright

 

Robin knew she had commitment issues. She _knew_ that. She even knew the issues came from her relationship with her father and the fact he always wished she had been a boy.

If she were really thinking about these things, it probably didn’t help that her first boyfriend turned out to be gay.

Still, knowing where these issues came from didn’t make them any easier to deal with.

Robin thought it would be nice if Ted could acknowledge that. She knew they broke up, but it was as much Ted’s decision as it was hers. He was the one who said they had an expiry date. It would be nice if Ted could remember that she loved him too. Just as much as he loved her.

Robin tried to be the mature adult in the situation. It wasn’t easy with Ted rubbing it in her face just how much he wasn’t missing her. If Ted was so eager to be married then why did he seem to be sleeping with every girl in Manhattan? Robin couldn’t see any of those relationships heading towards marriage either.

She met Bob at the gym. He was nice and fun and cute and really interested in her. Robin was so sick and tired of feeling sad and jealous about Ted, so she thought _‘Why the hell not.’_ She wasn’t really in the habit of taking advice from Barney, but it was time to stop being sad and start being awesome instead.

Bob was nice to her. He was sexy and smart and funny. Who cared if he was a little bit older? If Ted could date the entire Playboy Mansion, then Robin could date whoever she wanted.

It wasn’t about making it into a competition, Robin just wanted some fun and—

Oh, who was she kidding? It was totally a competition, and whatever else you could say about Robin Scherbatsky, when she played a game, she played to win.

 

 

 

She wasn’t sure how it happened. One moment she was yelling at Ted, and the next they were kissing.

It was wrong. Robin knew that. She was seeing Bob now, and all the reasons they had broken up were still true.

But this was Ted.

Ted who had told her he loved her the first night they met and meant it. Ted the first and only man she had ever wanted to marry. Ted who stole her a blue French horn.

So when he gripped her waist and kissed her like no time had passed since the last time they had been here, she kissed him back and tried to forget that the last time had been the end.

Ted’s hands were on her hips. Robin’s were at the base of his neck, the hair there tickling her fingers.

Ted took a step forward towards her couch, forcing Robin to move backwards. That was how it always was with them, Ted taking ground she wasn’t ready or willing to give up.

But tonight? Tonight Robin was too tired and too lonely to care. She stepped back again and pulled Ted down onto the couch. In one smooth motion Ted’s hands moved from her hips, pulling her shirt off over hr head. Robin quickly reciprocated.

Things moved fast. Too fast. Robin briefly wondered if that was Ted’s problem. He never stopped to think about things. Just enjoy them at their own pace.

Then again, Robin wasn’t exactly in a place to judge.

Robin was pulled out of her train of though by Ted’s hands tugging down her pants and underwear. Robin put her hands on his belt and Ted let out a sharp gasp.

“Do you have something?” she asked.

Ted nodded and kissed her again.

Robin pushed his pants down his hips and Ted kicked them the rest of the way off. He ran his hands up and down her thighs, causing Robin to sigh with contentment. He gripped her legs behind her knees and Robin pressed her fingers into the muscles in his back.

It was wrong. They shouldn’t be doing this. She was with Bob now and sleeping with Ted was only going to make things complicated for everyone.

But it was so familiar. It felt so nice being with Ted again. Feeling him surge up against her body.

Robin pressed her lips against the side of neck, tasting the sweat there. Ted groaned with pleasure.

This was good. This was right. Robin had felt so lonely, so she allowed herself to forget.

Yes, yes. This was right. It was good, oh god, it was good. Yes, Ted, _please_.

 

 

 

After, Ted was gone again. It had been a mistake, they both knew that, but a part of Robin hoped that Ted would have stayed. Just for the night.

She poured herself a glass of wine and fell back into her couch.

 _If this couch could talk_ , she thought and buried her head in her hands.

What was she going to do now? This was bad. This was really, really bad. She and Ted had barely spoken in weeks, and the first time they were alone together they had fallen back into their old ways.

(Their old ways being sex.)

She was going to have to talk to Ted about this if they wanted to stay friends. And she did. Want to stay friends, that is. She’d already lost boyfriend Ted, she didn’t want to lose friend Ted, too. If she lost friend Ted then she’d lose Ted. Period.

 

 

 

Thanksgiving dinner was a disaster. Thank god it was only American Thanksgiving, or Robin would have been even more upset. Hearing Ted say they weren’t friends—well. Robin’s pretty sure her heart broke all over again.

 

 

 

After everything Ted offered to walk her home.

She looked at him funny. “Are you crazy?” she asked. “I’m taking a cab.”

Ted laughed awkwardly. “Right,” he said. “How about just a walk, then?”

“Okay,” she agreed.

“I’m sorry,” Ted started awkwardly once they were on the street.

“Me too,” Robin said.

“No,” Ted said. “I was a jerk.”

Robin smiled. “Well, when you put it that way.”

Ted smiled back and bumped their shoulders together. “You were right,” he told her. “I was jealous of Bob. It was hard for me to see you together with him,” he paused. “It’s hard for me to see you with anyone.”

She snorted. “How do you think I feel?” she asked.

Ted put his hands in his pockets, but didn’t respond.

She stopped in her tracks. “You don’t know, do you?”

He stayed silent, looking down.

“Ted,” Robin put her hand on his wrist. “I miss you so much.”

His shoulders deflated with relief, and Robin just—she couldn’t believe it.

“How can you not know that, Ted?”

He still wouldn’t look up at her. “We can’t be together,” she told him.

He nodded. “I know.”

“We’re too different,” she continued. “And different isn’t necessarily a good thing. It’s not as simple as liking or not liking olives,” she took a breath. “It’s complicated.”

“I know that!” Ted exclaimed. He ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s hard,” he said. “It shouldn’t be this hard.”

“It’s hard because we love each other,” she told him.

“Loved,” he corrected, then paused. “Right?”

She took both his hands. He looked up at her. “I still love you,” she told him. “I probably always will.”

He nodded again. “I still love you, too. I miss you, Robin.”

She hugged him, gripping him tight against her. His arms circled around her waist, holding onto her just as tight.

A long moment later she stepped back. “So,” she started. “Friends?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I think so,” he paused. “We can try.”

She smiled sadly and hailed a cab. “I think you’re worth it,” she said climbing into the back seat.

He smiled back at her. “You too. Goodnight, Robin.”

She waved. 


End file.
